11 yr old arrested

This is something I ran across @ 2600. Thought you might find this interesting.

Quote:

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NAUGHTY HACKER, 11 YEARS OLD, CHARGED WITH FELONY IN "SCHEME TO DEFRAUD"
Posted 13 Feb 2003 22:00:04 UTC
An 11-year old student at St. Lucie West Middle School in Florida, has been charged with a felony for attempting to change his grades.

In a clear misapplication of the law, the child, who has not been named, was charged with an offense against intellectual property. It's hard to imagine how changing a grade is any kind of affront to any human being's "intellectual property," but this is what has been claimed, according to the Associated Press.


Helen Roberts
Legal semantics aside, the ordeal demonstrates a disdainfully low level of understanding and tolerance among school and city officials. Helen Roberts, the school's principal, recommended that the boy be expelled. Ellen Mancini, an assistant state attorney in Florida, called the boy's actions a "scheme to defraud."

Throughout history, in all cultures, youth have been allowed to make mistakes in judgment -- and learn from those mistakes -- as part of growing up. It's a kind of instinctual hacking. In today's panic-stricken U.S.A. however, the supposed rules of childhood become more erratic by the day, and the concept of "zero tolerance" gains increasing ground.

"It's as much a fraud as anything else," Mancini spouted. The student was booked into the St. Lucie County jail on Wednesday.

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hjack

Did the kid do something wrong? Yes.

Does the punishment fit the crime? Hell no.



Suspend the kid for a couple of days, chalk it up to a bad decision, and move on. I can't beleive the freakin' state attorney thinks that.

Hey,

just as a helpful tip when posting the source, put the whole adress ie: http://www.2600.com (even though im sure most people knew where to go) and also the link to the story :)

i wonder if he was trying to go by the handle ZeroCool as well :confused: LOL ok bad joke sorry :\ just came to mind .. sounded funny to me at the time

in any case its still dumb what happen to him especially for something like that

You gotta be kiding me!
Hell, didn't you know hacking is an act of terrorism?! He should have been sent to camp X-Ray with those other 11 year old terrorist! :rolleyes:

I can't beleive they actually jailed an 11 years old for trying to change his grades. Morons.

Ammo

dude sorry to say, but I think this was already posted; http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=239954

Quote:

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"Sometimes, you have to do things as an example of the authority of both the school system and the legal system."

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Yeah, and you should be laught at by everyone for having computers so insecure a 11 years old can walk in a change his grades.

Heh, sorry for the ranting, but it really enrages me when I see/hear of such stupidity.

Ammo

That is a very stupid thing to do, but I think we should be thankful that he isn't out running IRC-DoS bots or doing stupid crap.
Also, hasn't Florida heard of minors? Arresting an 11 year old is a bit harsh.

Personally, working for a school with electronic grades, I can see how easy it could be, they just don't believe that kids that age can have any knowledge for this sort of thing, so the security is there, but the teachers leave it wide open. Personally, I believe that the majority of teachers lack any common knowledge. I don't know how many times I've walked past an open computer that was logged into a teachers' report card files. Basically, I think the students should've been suspended. NOT EXPELLED, but I think that the teachers actions should be looked into as well. The sentence DOES NOT fit the crime!

Did the kid actually crack the school's network and change the grades...or just go up to the box and try to change his grades?

Either way he shouldn't be charged with a FELONY! 11 years old?! He doesn't even know where babies come from yet! This is disgusting.

Ignorant, paranoid, worthless people...

Well I happen to admin a school with computerized grades, and I don't let computer illeterate teachers ruine my security. Desktops lock out after 10 minutes idle, I enforce strong passwords and the grading system can't be accessed from computers exposed to students. I mean, lax security is as much the fault of IT, managment and the users. I'd be ashamed if was an admin there.

Ammo

Hey Ammo, I agree, I'm ashamed of the network security @ my school, unfortunetly, I have higher ups who don't want me locking down the network like that. . everything should be easy for the teachers, and if that causes me more work to fix problems. . then oh well. (exact quote) I just figure, it's their network, who am I to say anything.

Maybe you can email them and tell them how a network is supposed to be secure, I'm blue in the face!

Well my kid is 11 and he knows where babies come from... Healso knows what is right and what is wrong.

Recently he was almost talked into copying a paper off the internet for a speech by his study partner, I wasn't amused and he quickly changed his friend's mind.

However, I believe expulsion would do the trick for this kid, since there was no criminal intent. It just goes to show you what this country is coming to. Zero tolerance for ANY misbehavior is insane.

Every case deserves individual consequences. To subscribe to this type of punishment is ludicrous.

I hope the judge overseeing this case understands that.

I'm sickened at what my grandchildren might have to grow up with. Absolutely sickened.

Man.... Jailed... that kid gots balls, and a new job at Apple computers.... hahaha....

But seriously.... come on! America is so ****ed up.... you do that in canada, and guess what?.. you'll get a medal...

(we people in washington always use canada, as a example because there country is so laid back)

Where do babies come from?

Haven't kids always done this? When I was growing up (last week) there was a thriving black market of forged merit certificates for those who got bad reports. I guess kids are just more sophisticated now. Which I suppose means we have to be too.

I disagree with the jailing though, at 11 how could you establish Mens Rea safely????

Rachel

these punishments just perpetuate the crimes.